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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27029977">We Were Waiting for Each Other</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swim2520/pseuds/Swim2520'>Swim2520</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>2020 Ace/Nancy Fall Drabblefest [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Nancy Drew (TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ace and Nancy are childhood best friends, F/M, Other characters mentioned - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:27:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>778</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27029977</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swim2520/pseuds/Swim2520</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ace and Nancy are childhood friends and they develop feelings for each other. </p><p>Title from “All This Time” by One Republic</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ace &amp; Nancy Drew, Ace/Nancy Drew</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>2020 Ace/Nancy Fall Drabblefest [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944706</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>We Were Waiting for Each Other</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt: "I know I said I just wanted to be friends, but I can’t stop thinking about you. I’m not scared anymore. I want us.” <br/>AU where Nancy and Ace are childhood best friends.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="">
  <p>Nancy and Ace met when they were five, only a few weeks or so after his father’s accident on the job. From the very beginning, they were the best of friends; they were inseparable. Much to their parents’ chagrin, most of their time was spent chasing mysteries and getting into trouble. Their parents tried to separate them a total of once, which ended terribly. From that point on, it was like they gained a second set of parents (in fact, it was rare to <em>not</em> see them together). They were grounded together, learned sign language together, and even broke their arms together one summer.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It was clear to any who had eyes that they were meant to be together. Well, everyone <em>except</em> them.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Nancy couldn’t pinpoint when things started to change between them. She would be the first to admit that she was rather single-minded and often missed social cues because of that. Ace had always been there to silently remind her to take a step back and remember that other things were going on around her besides whatever mystery they were solving. So, she missed when he would look at her with a look in his eye that she had only seen when their parents looked at their spouse—love.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And then she got a boyfriend—Parker. He and Ace never got along. Parker didn’t like how close Nancy and Ace were, which he made quite clear. He thought that she was cheating on him. Nancy wasn’t sure why Ace didn’t like him. She could tell that Ace only acted civil around Parker because of her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She and Ace had fought more during the time that she was dating Parker than they ever had before, which should have been a sign to Nancy, but hindsight was 20/20. Their last argument had been <em>brutal</em>. They both said things that they regretted and it ended with Ace admitting that he was in love with Nancy. Caught off guard by his admission, Nancy had stammered something about remaining friends before they went their separate ways.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>For the first time in her life, Nancy found herself having to live life without Ace by her side. He had always been there, through thick and thin, and being eithout him was almost like loosing a limb. It took loosing Ace for Nancy to realize that she didn’t want to live her life without Ace.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It took her about a week to work up the courage to tell Ace how she felt about him. Nancy did not like feeling vulnerable, especially emotionally, but she recognized that she was going to have to be the one to put herself out there. Ace had already down that when he admitted his feelings; it was Nancy’s turn, now.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She found Ace at the Claw after hours, finishing up the last of that evening’s dishes. “How’d you get in here?” Ace asked when he caught sight of her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Picked the lock on the back door.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He nodded, not surprised in the slightest. After all, they learned how to pick locks together. “What are you doing here, Nancy?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Ace had a look on his face that almost broke Nancy’s heart. He was clearly feeling hopeful that she <em>might return </em>his feelings, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up at the same time. Especially not after Nancy quashed his feelings the first time he opened his heart to her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I know that I said I just wanted us to be friends, but I can’t stop thinking about you. I’m not scared anymore. I want us. I recently had to learn what life is like without you, which sucks, by the way. We were never just <em>friends</em>; there was <em>always</em> something more between us and I just couldn’t see it. I don’t want to live without you.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You have always been a little single-minded,” Ace said, letting out a little breathy laugh.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“So, what do you say?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I should apologize to you, too, Nancy. I blurted out how I felt about you and didn’t give you any time to process it or your own feelings. I expected an answer right away when I know that you need time to process things.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“So...?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I don’t want to live without you either,” he said. They shared a look before moving at light speed towards each other. They only broke apart when it became clear that they needed air.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Breathing hard, Ace said, “I’ve wanted to do that for years.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Well...what’s stopping you now?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Uhh...what about your boyfriend?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Screw Parker. I’ll text him later letting him know that he’s officially dumped,” Nancy said. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Won’t here any complaints from me.”</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
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